Ex-miners in Maltby get their kit off for memorial calendar

Residents and former Maltby miners have stripped off to take part in a calendar

Published:06:00Saturday 08 November 2014

Share this article

Sign Up To Our Daily Newsletter

A group of ex-miners from a South Yorkshire village have bravely bared all to raise funds for a memorial to all those who lost their lives at the local pit.

The men from Maltby - along with some of their families and friends - posed for pictures in the pit’s showers and locker rooms, using mining items to cover their modesty.

Residents and former Maltby miners have stripped off to take part in a calendar

The calendar is now on sale and it is hoped the proceeds will help to pay for a permanent memorial to the 163 miners who lost their lives at Maltby Colliery.

Orders received so far have exceeded £1,400 in value.

Richard Price, aged 24, of Maltby, who appears as Mr February, said: “In June I had the idea of trying to secure a memorial for the colliery and all those that worked there.

“While I was in the process of trying to get this thing off the ground, two Maltby residents had the same discussion in the Maltby Miners Welfare Pub.

“We realised we were aiming at the same thing and came together to create the Maltby Miners Memorial Community Group.

“The calendar was a bit of fun to raise awareness of what we’re trying to achieve.”

The group has salvaged half the pit’s winding wheel and some pots which will form the basis of the memorial, planned for outside Maltby Leisure Centre, on High Street.

The colliery, which began mining in 1907, was the scene of the one of mining’s worst disasters. In 1923, 27 men died during an explosion at the pit. The bodies of most of the victims remain entombed underground.

One of the victims was the grandfather of Bill Spilsbury - Mr November and group chairman.

The calendar costs £10. Cheques payable to Maltby Miners Memorial Community Group, with name and address on back, should be posted to Andrew Fletcher, 74 Devonshire Road, Maltby, Rotherham, S66 7DQ. Or order online at www.paypal.com inserting maltbyminer1@outlook.com in the pay/send category.